KARACHI: Two persons, including a Lance Naek of the Pakistan Army and a civilian, were killed and 15 others, including 10 military personnel, were injured when a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a motorcycle hit a Pakistan Army truck in Korangi No5 near the Rangers’ Headquarters on Thursday night, police and Pakistan Army officials said.

The incident took place near the 43 Wing of the Bhittai Rangers in Korangi No-5 in the limits of the Awami Colony police station when a truck carrying Pakistan Army personnel was attacked by an IED.

Another IED, weighing around 8-10 kilograms which was planted in a gas cylinder was defused by the bomb disposal squad after jammers were brought to block the remote control signals, the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) in-charge of Sabir Durrani said.

The Pakistan Army personnel were returning to their base after performing election duty in NA-254 where by-polls were held. The army truck was badly damaged in the powerful blast while a rickshaw, a taxi and several motorcycles were also destroyed in the explosion.

Additional Inspector General (AIG), Sindh Police, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, confirmed that Pakistan Army personnel were targeted through an IED. “Perhaps the army personnel who were on election duty in NA-254 were staying at the 43 Wing of Sindh Rangers in Korangi and they were returning to their base when they were attacked,” he said. He confirmed the presence of another bomb at the site of the blast.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also confirmed the attack on Pakistan Army troops.“I can only tell you that a truck of the Pakistan Army was attacked through an IED when the troops were returning to their base after performing election duty in NA-254,” Colonel Nayyer Abbas of ISPR in Karachi told The News.

Immediately after the explosion, ambulances of the Edhi and Chippa welfare foundations rushed to the spot and shifted at least 11 injured army personnel and seven civilians, including a child and a woman, to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC).

“One civilian was brought dead to the JPMC who was identified as Kashif, s/o Musa, while we received 11 military men, some of them critically injured as well as seven civilians,” the JPMC’s head of emergency services Dr Seemi Jamali said.

The injured soldiers were identified as Subedar Baig, Hawaldar Kifayatullah, Sepoy Shahzad, Munawar, Haider, Mashkoor, Fayyaz, Amjad and Abdus Salam.According to Dr Jamali, all the injured had wounds on the lower parts of the body and added that four of the military personnel were in serious condition.

Military sources said all the 10 injured had been shifted to the PNS Shifa in Karachi after necessary treatment and first aid at the JPMC, confirming that one soldier Lance Naek Tariq was martyred while 10 were injured.

Our Peshawar Bureau adds: A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Shahidullah Shahid claimed responsibility for the Karachi blast. He said the first attack was a suicide attack and the second an improvised explosive device (IED) blast to target a military convoy.

“First our suicide bomber blew himself up and targeted a military convoy and then an IED was triggered,” the spokesman said.Shahidullah Shahid said the TTP carried out the attack to reject the government demand of laying down arms before peace talks.

“We wanted to convey a message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we would never lay down arms for the sake of meaningless talks and today’s attack is to prove that we can strike at will,” the spokesman said.